American Highway Users Alliance

The united voice of the transportation community on highway safety and mobility.

A nonprofit advocacy organization representing over 300 national trade associations, corporations, small businesses, and state and local nonprofit organizations that represent over 45 million highway users.

1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.857.1200       fax 202.857.1220
www.highways.org
© Copyright 2002

Over the course of the year, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) authored a series of bipartisan bills designed to set the tone for the TEA 21 reauthorization debate in the Senate in 2003. Each of the bills, titled "Maximizing Economic Growth for America" or MEGA, has garnered the enthusiastic support from members of The Highway Users. During the 107th Congress, Sen. Baucus served as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee that has jurisdiction over the Highway Trust Fund. Sen. Baucus, Sen. Craig and other colleagues introduced the following bills. Click on the bills to read the text:

• The MEGA TRUST Act: This bill was written to strengthen the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund and included provisions to recapture interest on the balance in the fund and compensate the fund for losses due to ethanol subsidies.
• The MEGA RED TRANS Act: This bill would strengthen transit service in areas where it is most vital, enhancing service in rural areas and for the elderly and disabled. The bill also sets up a new "essential bus service" program.
• The MEGA STREAM Act: This bill would streamline project delivery by coordinating interagency planning processes and empowering the Department of Transportation to set project schedules and deadlines for comments.
• The MEGA RURAL Act: This bill would create a new rural roads program that would create a rural roads safety pilot program to deal with the intolerable rate of fatalities on rural roads. The bill would also set minimum levels of highway funding for rural and small urbanized areas.
• The MEGA Fund Act: This bill would reauthorize the major highway formula and discretionary programs and provide growing funding levels for highway programs from 2004 to 2009 from $34 billion to $41 billion per year. The bill would also reform the problematic "Revenue Aligned Budget Authority" (RABA) provision which led to unpredictable swings in guaranteed levels of highway funding in recent years.
• The MEGA Innovate Act: This bill would authorize the Secretary of Treasury to sell $3 billion worth of tax credit bonds each year with the proceeds being placed in the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund. It would increase financing to the Highway Trust Fund without raising taxes.